


Brave New World

by Lady_Therion



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Slow Burn, Spinner Rumplestiltskin | Mr. Gold
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-23
Updated: 2015-03-23
Packaged: 2018-03-19 08:07:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3602694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Therion/pseuds/Lady_Therion
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Modern!Librarian Belle finds a strange book that spirits her away to land overrun by ogres...and to a spinner who has lost nearly all hope.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Brave New World

**_London, Present Day_ **

Belle’s troubles began with an unexpected gift.

It appeared one rainy afternoon in the Rare Books and Manuscripts Department of the Van Royen Public Library. Belle came to work late, her coat soaked through and her umbrella turned inside out. It was only after tossing the latter into a bin that she noticed a package sitting in her carrel. 

From the outside, it was nothing extraordinary: just some brown paper tied together with brown string. She lifted it with both hands and turned it from one side and then the other. All she could fathom was that it was solid: nothing ticking (thank goodness) and nothing rattling about. Other than that, she had no idea what the package could be. The only hint that it arrived at its destination was a label on the front that read: 

_Belle French_

_Special Collections, Assistant Curator_

_Gardener Wing, Van Royen Public Library_

Overwhelmed by curiosity, she hurriedly untied the string.

“Got an admirer do you?”

Belled started, the package dropping with an awkward _thwump_. It was only her colleague, Dr. Hopper, who had stopped by with a trolley full of tomes.   

“Erm, no. Not that I know of,” she said, blushing hotly at her clumsiness.

He smiled reassuringly. “Best get a move on, then. These’ll need sorting.”

“Right, sorry.”

Hastily, she tucked the package into her book bag and thought nothing of it until she came home later that night.

\---

**_The Enchanted Forest_ **

Baelfire was gone.

It was all Rumplestiltskin could to do to stem the tide of fear that flooded his heart as he stared at his son’s empty pallet. It was not quite first light, yet already the village began to stir. The soldiers had come for the children and the air was thick with the bray of horses, chainmail and weeping mothers. Though Bae was still a year shy of the age of conscription, it did not mean he was safe from those in service to the Duke—which meant Rumplestiltskin had to find him, and find him fast.

Grabbing his staff, he limped his way through the back of his hut. Since their home was nearer to the edge of the woods, he was less likely to run into the soldiers there. There was a trail that led down to the river. Bae would play there with his friend Morraine, often _against_ Rumplestiltskin’s caution.

Dark thoughts took root within him. _What if Bae was hurt? What if Bae had drowned?_ _What if the soldiers had come this way?_ There had been an incident some years past when the river current turned swift and cruel after the summer swells. Bae had been chasing a butterfly (“a fairy” he later told him), and had would have been swept away had it not been for a young shepherd who dove in and fished him out. 

“I almost caught her, Papa!” The boy exclaimed, knowing nothing of the terror that all but paralyzed Rumplestiltskin as he watched his son fall into the water.

“He’s a strong lad,” the shepherd had said. “It’d do him good to learn how to swim.”

Rumplestiltskin had thanked him, though it was not without some resentment. What _good_ could a father do for his son when he was but a cripple and a coward?

\---

**_London, Present Day_ **

It was well past eight by the time Belle caught the Tube home, a new umbrella in tow. Home was a one-bedroom flat in Stratford that was built right above a jazz club. So while Belle lived alone, she never felt so with the din of sultry notes and silky laughter to keep her company.

She shed her heels and coat at the door and made her way towards the kitchenette where a basket of unfolded laundry still sat on the counter. Moving the basket aside, she took out the package from her book bag and placed it carefully in front of her.

It had been three years since Belle received package that wasn’t an online order. Most of her regular mail consisted of electric bills, ad circulars and dismal summaries of student loans. Once a year there would be a birthday card with from her father that almost always ended with a thinly veiled plea. _Sweetheart, don’t you think it’s time we put all this behind us? You are sorely missed at home._

But even if she and her father were at odds, she couldn’t imagine him bribing his way into her good graces—not even as a last resort. In any case, her birthday was half a year away and her father was never one to call on her unless there was an occasion. Unable to withstand the suspense, she tore open the package with slightly trembling fingers.

It was a book.

Its surface was wide and heavy, the cover made from firm brown leather. Carefully, very carefully, she traced the intricate golden lettering:

_“Once Upon a Time…”_

Fairy tales? How curious. She remembered taking an elective on European folklore and fables as an undergraduate student. It was that course in particular that persuaded her to switch from corporate finance to classic literature (one of the many decisions her father had not taken very well).

Perhaps someone wanted to make an anonymous donation to the Van Royen? But despite a few signs of wear and tear, there was nothing on the surface that seemed to indicate an antiquated bearing. Just to be certain, she grabbed a pair of disposal gloves from the silverware drawer and delicately turned the cover. She stared at the first page. 

 _Blank._   

She turned to the next page.

 _Blank._   

Frowning, she skipped towards the end.

 _Blank._  

Was the book perhaps a journal? Even so, Belle couldn’t help stifle her disappointment. It was as though her little adventure had ended before it began. It was silly of her, now that she thought about it. Here she was, hoping she was on the brink of uncovering some mystery. But as usual, she was carried away by her imagination.

Sighing in defeat, she returned to the beginning…

_And the words began to appear._

She yelped as she jumped from her chair, knocking over an open box of cereal, the wheat thins spreading themselves all across the tile floor.

“Oh my God!”

_Was she going mad? Have the pressures of a post-graduate life finally caught up with her? Should she have taken anti-depressants like her thesis advisor said?_

Whatever her doubts, the words began to appear one after the other—as though written by some invisible hand. Sweat beaded at her brow as the impulse to toss the book into her garbage disposal overwhelmed her. Instead she screwed her eyes shut and started taking deep breaths.

“Okay, okay, okay. You’re not mad. You’re _not mad_. Just…just look at it again and it’ll be all right.”

She opened her eyes to an almost finished page. The words were written in a flourishing script, and…and a picture began to bleed through as well. It was like watching a photograph develop in a dark room. Taking another deep shuddering breath, she sat down and read the first sentence. 

“On the edge of a village, in a faraway land, there lived a lonely Spinner and his only son….”

**Author's Note:**

> 1) To my knowledge, the Van Royen Public Library does not exist (at least not in that part of the UK). I actually drew inspiration from the Boston Public Library. 
> 
> 2) I'd like to think that the shepherd who rescued Bae was a teenage Prince Charming.
> 
> 3) This fic was formerly titled "There and Back".


End file.
